Instant Pot Max

As if it hasn’t garnered enough of a following, Instant Pot, the cult-favorite line of multi-use pressure cookers, has come out with Instant Pot Max, an amped-up version that offers a host of new bells and whistles. Pressure cookers, which were first invented in the 1600s, use steam pressure to cook food faster. But unlike your grandmother’s pressure cooker, the cookers of today can caramelize, brown, and create deep flavor—and as Instant Pot has proven, do a whole lot more.

The original Instant Pot functioned as a pressure cooker, slow-cooker, sauté pan, steamer, and yogurt maker. The new Instant Pot Max now boasts a home canning function, automatic stirring—and a sous vide capability that allows you to precisely control water temperature.

The Max, which is the most expensive in the Instant Pot lineup, is a six-quart model that can pressure-cook food at 15psi (pounds per inch) and 11,000 watts, which means that food should be cooked 10 to 15 percent faster than with other electric pressure cookers.

Other improvements over Instant Pot’s last generation include an easier LCD control panel. The handy touch screen isn’t overwhelming like lot of other kitchen appliances are. Button choices include pressure cook, slow cook, sauté/brown, soup/broth, rice, canning, steam, and yogurt. You can see the temperature inside the pot, the type of venting you’ve selected, and where your food is at in its cooking cycle. It’s easy to control time, pressure level, steam venting, temperature, and keep-warm functions by touching the screen and adjusting the dial.

There’s also a new feature called Nutriboost, which makes rice more flavorful and creamy, and keeps it from sticking to the bottom of the pot. The Nutriboost feature also breaks down food and adds nutrition and flavor, which is helpful on the soup/broth option when you want to soften veggies and meat. If only the new Max could set the table, too.

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